The provincial government announced a significant investment in applied research yesterday afternoon at the Université de Moncton campus.

The Alward government has partnered with the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation to launch the New Brunswick Innovation Research Chair Initiative, aimed at increasing the province’s applied research capacity.

The funding will enable up to six research chair positions – hosted by any of the province’s universities, community colleges or other recognized research institutions – to be created within priority growth sectors. The chairs will be awarded $200,000 per year for five years to carry out applied research to help private sector companies develop new products and services from intellectual property existing in companies, from property existing in knowledge institutions, or from new research developed by the research chair and their team, Allison Toogood, A3.

Lise Dubois, the associate vice-president of research, said as long as the application timeline co-operates with plans, UdeM plans to apply for chair in each of the six sectors, which include: value-added food; value-added wood; information and communication technology (ICT); industrial fabrication; biosciences; and aerospace and defence.

‘We have such a large gamut of programs here,’ she said. ‘We are a comprehensive research post-secondary institution but one of our priority areas is biosciences. Our department could become very strong if we could add to it with the initiative.’ But having a chair proposal accepted for any one of the six sectors would be of huge benefit to the university, Dubois said.

‘We find that it’s a very generous and well-timed program,’ she said. ‘We already do world-class research on campus. Having a chair here would allow us to add to what we’re already doing and attract and retain even more people.’

A request for proposals has been launched and institutions have until January 15th to submit a letter of intent. These letters of intent will be vetted by an independent committee comprised of foundation staff and board members, government officials and independent academic and business experts.